1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wiping article for use in cleaning soiled hard surfaces, more particularly to a wiping article including a flexible substrate incorporating a liquid cleaner for removing soils from hard, normally shiny surfaces without substantial linting or streaking.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Various liquid compositions have been described which were designed particularly for the cleaning of hard surfaces without streaking or spotting.
Exemplary of such liquid cleaning compositions are those described in British Pat. No. 1,523,740 comprising a mixture of certain detersive sulfates and sulfonates, a builder salt, a suds depressant and water, for cleaning hard surfaces, particularly shiny, glassy or vitreous and metal surfaces and which do not require additional wiping or cleaning; and aqueous based cleansers described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,725 comprising a certain polymer, a surfactant and water, for cleaning glass surfaces and which dry to a streak-free condition.
There have also been described various hard surface wiping articles comprising substrates having incorporated thereon or therein certain surface treating agents or cleansing agents. Such wiping articles, included among which are those specifically designed to give streak-free results, are provided either in (a) dry form and intended for use in the dry state, or (b) dry form and intended to be used in conjunction with moisture, or (c) wet-impregnated form intended for use without the need for providing additional moisture.
Exemplary of wiping articles of type (a) above are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,288,714 and 3,075,228. U.S. Pat. No. 2,288,714 describes a cleaning and anti-mist film applying article for dry cleaning glass surfaces comprising a flexible substrate such as soft tissue paper or cloth, containing a minute amount of an anti-mist agent which permits cleaning and anti-misting treatment of a glass surface in a single operation, the anti-mist agent being distributed in spaced areas on the substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 3,075,228 describes an anti-fogging article comprising a flexible web-like fabric such as paper, felt and textile containing, as the active agent, an alkali metal salt of a sulfated alkyl aryloxypolyalkoxy alcohol.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,356 describes a wiping article of type (b) above which comprises a wet strength paper towel impregnated with a certain nonionic surfactant which is used with moisture to clean glass surfaces without leaving a light defracting film.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,704 describes a wiping article of type (c) above for cleaning a hard surface, such as glass, to give a streak-free finish comprising a substrate, preferably paper or nonwoven fabric, carrying a homogeneous aqueous composition having a surface tension below 45 mNm.sup.- 1 and which on drying does not form discrete droplets or particles larger than 0.25 .mu.m. A pre-wash of the substrate with a suitable solvent such as demineralized water or the impregnating solution in order to remove impurities which cause streaking is required to give streak-free performance.